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We live in a world of IP where the safest thing to do is reboot something that has an audience. It's harder than it's ever been to get something made that's not based on a previous movie or comic book or video game. Every generation deserves its own stories instead of just the stories of their grandparents. You're goddamn right. This quote needs to be etched into the parchment of fire. You could not find a better summary of the state of the entertainment industry in the year of the big 25. This is like the first time in my life where I fired up Fallout 4 and just got pissed off, dude. Like, I just am so tired of watching what I view as my favorite franchise just being treated like [__] I mean, this quote applies to
TV shows, streaming platforms, movies, video games, all of it. Why are there so many remakes, remasters, and reboots? By the end of this video, you will have all the answers. But more important than this quote itself is the mouth that it came from. Vince Gilligan, creator, writer, and producer of what most consider to be the greatest TV series of all time. Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius. Oh, wait. The script says Breaking Bad. I've never heard of that. Is that any good? But with an unprecedented rating on Metacritic, a fantastic follow-up in Better Call Saul, well, any studio executive worth their salt is going to see a fat, juicy cow waiting to be milked. And I'm not just talking about your mother. It makes perfect sense why
a studio executive would look at Breaking Bad and then ask Vince Gilligan as he's pitching his new show, Plurabus, but what's next in the Breaking Bad world? And I love that Vince's answer boiled down to nothing. I told the story I wanted to tell and now I'm moving on. But we almost skipped over something crazy. Let me repeat that question. What's next in the Breaking Bad world? And the assumption that Breaking Bad should and would become some kind of persistent cinematic universe, I feel is it's a sign of everything that's wrong with the modern entertainment industry. Those at the top pulling the levers deciding what gets the green light, they're not willing to let sleeping dogs lie. They can't accept the fact that a
story was told, it had a satisfying conclusion, and that's it. That's the end. It's the idea that any story, let alone that of Breaking Bad, is too good to end. Consider the alternate reality where we had the Breaking Bad cinematic universe and they continuously expanded upon this story until the market was so oversaturated with Breaking Bad spin-offs and Breaking Bad novels and movies and comic books and an animated TV series and so much media that the fan base ended up resenting the franchise instead of cherishing it. Imagine that world. Well, you really don't have to because we live in that world.
Get ready for the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection. It's the biggest piece of dog [__] This video is sponsored by Foundation Galactic Frontier. Because why not engage in epic space battles from the comfort of your phone? Do you guys not have spaceships? This is the first mobile game based on Isaac Azimov's classic sci-fi novel series. In Galactic Frontier, you will craft your own spaceships, recruit new teammates, build your fleet, and impose your dominance across the galaxy. You will navigate your fleet through the darkest reaches of space. Uncover new factions and guilds, recruit or destroy them. You can upgrade your flagship with various enhancements, allowing you to assign duties to crew mates who can then
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Now, let's take a step back for a moment. We got an Oblivion remaster before Elder Scrolls 6. They gave us a Dead Space remake before a new Dead Space. Rockstar clogged my toilet with the GTA trilogy. Oh, that's real nice. And I'm still waiting on the new plumber to deliver GTA 6, but apparently he's stuck in traffic right now. We literally got the worst reviewed game of all time before we got a new Warcraft RTS. The one and only time a COD multiplayer has been remastered. They packaged it in as a bundle alongside one of the worst multiplayers. Somebody has to be the one to say it. Remakes and remasters are out of control. And I can't be the only one noticing this trend. Is it a sign of
creative bankruptcy or actual bankruptcy? Can you even think of a game or a franchise that hasn't had a remaster or remake? I mean, maybe Bubsy. Oh, come the [__] up. So, what's up with the constant neverending avalanche of remakes and remasters? The TLDDR is that remakes generate a lot of profit. I don't believe it. and the consumer is partially responsible for how they vote with their wallet. Now, I do want to say if you've been enjoying this video so far, I would really appreciate it if you subscribed and left a like. Now,
although this video is mostly looking at remix and remasters through the lens of gaming, basically everything I say in this video is going to apply to film, television, and streaming services, too. because Vince's quote was too good not to include. It was like that clip of the archer who shoots an arrow into a bullseye before shooting another arrow directly into the arrow that already hit the bullseye. What I find especially ironic is how serialized, repetitive, and IPdriven modern entertainment has become. Black Ops 7 is right around the corner, and at this point, we've become so far detached from Call of Duty's humble origins that it's easy to forget how risky COD 4: Modern Warfare was back
in 2007. At the time, nobody could have predicted that straying from their roots in World War II games would have paid off. And nobody could have imagined how much money the COD franchise would end up making or what sort of abomination it would inevitably turn into. I'm a goddamn onion Mason. You should know that. I guess what I'm trying to say is, well, sometimes death is better. I'd rather a franchise die with grace and dignity than have its endrails removed and its corpse paraded throughout the city. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of seeing the same dang franchises year in year out. What gives? Why are developers and publishers more content with remaking what has already been
made? I mean, let's give these new IPs a chance like Lawb Break. Okay. Um, maybe that's not the best example, but uh I think they just need to make more original games. Like, did I just do that? I just move [__] with my mind. Perhaps our connection is I just moved [__] with my mind. I just keep hearing I just move [__] with my mind. Well, I don't know about Yeah. Okay. That is something I do know. Okay. If only they could create new IPs such as Concord is a 5v5 first person shooter. I'm starting to see the issue here. As easy as it is to meme on Concord, the greater tragedy of its failure is that it's going to be taken as a sign that
studios need to double down even further on existing IPs. And nobody is going to ask the obvious question of why the [__] a game like Concord right out the gate its first entry was given a $300 million budget to begin with. They wanted it to be the next Overwatch. They didn't want it to be Concord. Like it was their expectations that this game would turn into a franchise, a Concord cinematic universe. And that's the wrong way to look at things. When Infinity Ward made COD 4, they didn't anticipate they would make six [__] sequels to Modern Warfare. They just tried to make the best version of Call of Duty they did at the time. I am working on a COD 4 review because I don't give a [__] about Black
Ops 7. By the way, thank you for asking. For better or worse, Marvel did done change the game and now everyone wants their own version of an MCU. But it's an unrealistic fantasy in the minds of studio executives. And it does nothing. These goals do nothing but dilute the creative process that is meant to drive game design. It's like trying to build a farm before you even know if people want to buy bananas or not. But to answer my previous question, games that have never been remastered, remade, rebooted, or refucked, Left for Dead, HalfLife. Boom. There you go. In all honesty, like what could you gain from a HalfLife 1 remake that the original does not already offer? While many gamers might dog on
Valve for their inability to count to three, I think it's more accurate to say Valve is incapable of counting to zero. That is to say, they are unwilling to ruin their legacy of greatness. This is the tragic and almost comical thing about it was it took long enough that then by the time we considered going back to episode 3, the argument was made like, well, we missed it. It's too late. Now, when I look at HalfLife 1, I don't see a real reason to remake it other than just the surface level of like we're going to improve the visuals and make it look more realistic and more modern. But that kind of defeats the purpose of like
going back in time to appreciate this classic masterpiece gem, doesn't it? Halflife 1 is what it is. Why tread on the legacy of your forebears trying to imitate their work, their success, and their legacy when you can just sell that on your platform as it is. The point is, I'd rather keep playing Left 4 Dead 2 than play a Left 4 Dead 3 that [__] up what was already perfect, as I'm sure Payday fans could relate to this. I am sorry about that video, by the way. I know it's been a while, but if you can't appreciate or play an older game because the graphics look terrible, then maybe that says more about your tastes as a gamer and as a consumer. The
ultimate point is that like Vince Gilligan, Valve seems to understand that there is more intrinsic long-term value in letting things be what they are and were rather than trying to revive every formerly popular IP. And you can't get lazy and say, "Oh, we're moving the story forward." That's that's coping out of your obligation uh to gamers. We could have shipped it like it wouldn't have been that hard. You know, the failure was my personal failure was being stumped. Like I couldn't figure out why doing episode three was pushing anything forward because you might end up zombifying something that was once great and tarnishing people's perspective of it.
Sometimes that is better. So, there are a handful of IPs that have thankfully avoided being rehashed, watered down, and resold to their fan base. But what are the best arguments in favor of a remake or remaster? Well, don't ask from Software this question because they will continue to gaslight you into thinking that Bloodborne plays perfectly on PS4 at 30 frames per second. You only need 30 frames for that game. Okay? No, you're you're just crazy. You don't even know what gaslighting is. Fans have been asking for a Bloodborne PC port for years, and it feels like Shaquille O'Neal dunking on a toddler. Like, it's the easiest W attainable. And yet, for some reason, all this blood keeps clotting up in the process. So, sometimes even the
remasters we want don't get made. Which brings me to the beloved Demon Souls remake, which functioned more as a tech showcase of the PS5's capabilities. And it left me wondering, why did they leave everything the same? I mean, there was a real opportunity to revive the PvP in this game. That would have been so cool to experience, but they left it as [__] broken, unbalanced, cryptic, and inaccessible as it was in 2009. So, it really felt like a massive missed opportunity. The best argument in favor of a remake is the idea that you, the fan, will be able to play your favorite game and believe that you're playing it for the first time again. The two best examples of a proper remake that come to
mind are Dead Space and RE4. But the point is, these remakes genuinely feel like brand new interpretations of that classic timeless formula that worked. Dead Space in particular, I think, is an objective improvement on the original gameplay, especially the zerog environments, and they added brand new areas to the Ishimura. The RE4 remake might be slightly contentious as I don't think it captures the same campy, ridiculous writing of the original, but upon reflection, I don't want it to. No way, Leon.
Way. I like that Leon Kennedy in the original is almost entirely different from how he is in the remake. It's like getting to eat the same cake twice, but the recipe is a little different. There's a ton of good reasons to remake a game and plenty of excellent examples, but this doesn't change the fact that studios in charge of these IPs do not always respect the creative vision of the things they are remaking. Sounds more like an alien invasion if you ask me. What they respect is the almighty dollar. But another good argument for a remaster is something like Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Crash Insane Trilogy, the Master Chief Collection after it was
fixed. And I'm honestly surprised these types of collections aren't as common. Especially think about what a [__] slam dunk it would be for Call of Duty to do something like this. Zombie Chronicles, if I'm not mistaken, in Black Ops 3, is one of the bestselling DLCs of all time. And all it did was just remake and remaster classic zombies maps in a new game. Yet, for whatever reason, we don't deserve a Call of Duty zombies collection. Because Call of Duty is a series planned for obsolescence. And because of the port to MCC, we have fan-made creations like the cursed Halo mod to thank for that. So, a proper remaster can open a game to an entirely new audience, and that new audience can
keep the game alive. Breathing new life into a neuscitated franchise is certainly worth pursuing the remastered treatment. But on the flip side, it's time we take a look at the most convincing arguments against remasters and remakes. I'm talking about the GTA Trilogy and Warcraft 3 Reforged. You see, it's bad enough when companies shamelessly shill out a remaster with virtually no discernable differences to the original. Even when you put up a sidebyside comparison, it's another can of [__] worms. when a remake replaces the original with an inferior version. And unlike MCC, which revived some niche parts of the Halo community, Warcraft 3 Reforged was sold with the promise of reviving the RTS community, but that
never [__] happened. Warcraft 3 Reforged is so [__] bad. I cannot take the discs of this, put them into my computer, and play Warcraft 3. If you want to play it online, you have to buy Reforged. And the same goes for the GTA Trilogy, which as bad as it is, is not nearly as abysmal as Reforged. But the same problems arise. They replaced the originals. Rockstar effectively sold you three inferior versions of games they released almost 20 years ago. Initiating spin. But at the very least, you can say they didn't render some iconic revered masterpiece of a multiplayer obsolete. When you're so hungry for money and revenue, you don't know what to do or what to make, well, there's a massive
chance you end up doing irrevocable damage to a brand that ends up not being worth whatever pittance you make selling it. This leads me to my next point, financial viability. The reason there are so many remakes and remasters is that they are considered safe investments. It's easier to cash in on something with an established reputation than it is to create something new and risk everything on the chance that new players are going to give a [__] Concord. Think about the difference between a Dead Space 4 and a Dead Space remake. Well, it'd be easier to replicate the already good game design of the original. And if you made a new game, you'd have to construct entirely new levels. You'd have to overhaul the
AI of the necromorphs. You'd have to create a whole new plot, make sure that doesn't suck ass, decide whether or not you cash in on the established iconography of Isaac Clark, or do you try to pull a Halo 5 and try to replace your main protagonist with some [__] guy nobody gives a [__] about? And the more you start to think about it, the more a Dead Space remake makes sense more than a Dead Space 4. To give you a perfect example of like what we've lost, I want you to think about how many Star Wars games have released in the last eight years. Republic Commando, Lego Star Wars, Battlefront 2, and the Episode 3 game. These four titles all released in 2005. But it's not just nostalgia goggles. It's the fact that
back then companies saw all of these projects as financially viable. None of these games were expected to be the next Fortnite. They had no expectations of a persistent progression system or a battle pass. They weren't made with the plans of a live service or some long-term investment. It was just let's make a game for people that like Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. All right, if you kill me, it's a hate crime. Then it's a hate crime I'm willing to commit. I thought you better. But as the profitability of video games ballooned with a lot of these AAA titles, so too did expectations and the expectations of
investors, and it seems companies just aren't as willing to invest in those more modest double A games that did provide a lot of entertainment. They might not be games you want to replay every year, but if it just felt like you had more variety back then, I guess what this video boils down to, why are there so many remakes and remasters? Well, it comes back to that old Biggie Smalls quote, "Mo money, mo problems." When games had smaller budgets and were focused on appealing to fans of a console rather than chasing some elusive broader audience, the expectations were lower. the funding was smaller. A and even if the Episode 3 fighting game had flopped, it wouldn't have been a big hit
or a big deal. And if these AAA developers are unwilling to make new entries in the franchise, well, what's the logical result of that? Remakes and remasters. And how can you argue with the data when analysis research finds consumers spend twice as much on game remakes than remasters? Regardless, it's safe to say that the game industry is dealing with a chronic case of creative bankruptcy. We have hit Modern Warfare 7 and Black Ops 7. But maybe we just accepted and embraced the fact that corporations were willing to sell our nostalgia back to us. Maybe we showed too little interest in anything outside of a pre-established franchise. Maybe it is our fault. I may have consumed too
much in a few places. Perhaps we just kept consuming and as they continued to ruin all the franchises we love, we ended up begging them to sell us the same [__] we already bought. But at this point, I'm I'm kind of burnt out on remakes and remasters. I'll be honest. And with Holy [__] [__] is that Revan? Oh my god, that's a Holy Bastilus tits. That's a couture remake. Okay, actually I changed my mind. Remakes and remasters are [__] a-ok. Okay. A cottor remake. You got me by the balls right now. Where's my goddamn wallet? I will give you all the money in the They ask you how you are, you just have to say that you're fine when you're not really fine.
I guess one of the last points I want to make in this video is just to give you a sense of what I feel like we're missing. And the best place to start is the library of the original Xbox. We had time spplitters future perfect masterpiece. Ooh, Balders's Gate Dark Alliance, Armed and Dangerous, Jade Empire, Tur Rock Evolution, Mecca Assault, the [__] OG Spider-Man games were actually lit. Voodoo Vince, Grabbed by the Dang Ghoulies, Fusion Frenzy, amped. They made a snowboarding game that was fun. Crimson Skies, Airplane Game, Bloodwake, Boat Game. You just don't expect this kind of variety. And I'd like to end it with Munch's Odyssey. A game like this with a cover
as ugly as this, I can just never see the modern gaming industry pursuing like any of these titles. But for whatever reason, like this speaks to me. This is just classic Xbox. And it just it feels like in this era of remakes and remasters where they're just sticking with the core IPs that they know make money, we'd never ever get something as experimental as weird and as unhinged as this. So why are there so many remakes and remasters? Well, it's like Vince said, we live in a world of IP, and it's not enough to create some experimental, bizarre, one-off, lowbudget game or TV series or movies. Companies just aren't going to fund that anymore. Everything must cater to the trends of the modern
audience. Your game will either get a $300 million budget or none at all. Remakes and remasters are a double-edged sword. They offer a lot of benefits at their best. [__] yeah. They allow us to achieve the impossible. Replaying a game for the first time or feeling like we are. At their worst, an exploit of our nostalgia and the fan reverence of a beloved IP which waters down the image and reputation of it for the sake of making a quick [__] What the [__] What the? And in the depths of remastered hell lies solely the GTA Trilogy and Warcraft 3 Reforged. And that is why there are so many remakes and remasters. But thank you all for watching. Hope you enjoyed the video. I honestly could have
made this video like 2 hours long. There's so much to say on this topic. Let me know what your favorite or least favorite remakes or remasters are in the comments below. Don't forget to like the video if you enjoyed it. Really helps me out. And subscribe to the ActMan if you enjoyed this content and want to see more of it. All right, everyone. That's all I got for today. This is the ActMan signing out. Peace.
